Hundreds of journalists and telecommunications analysts from the Caribbean, and North, South and Latin America are at this moment gathered at Pier 36 ‘ 266 South Street, New York for the much anticipated launch of Blackberry 10.
This new operating system is seen by industry experts as Research in Motion’s last chance to fight off competition in the smartphone market from the likes of Apple and Samsung.
RIM’s chief executive officer Thorsten Heins is expected to unveil the completely revamped operating system in his keynote address . A number of question and answer sessions are scheduled with the company’s market representatives including regional director for the Caribbean Sean Killen.
In an interview with Barbados Business Authority last June, Killen said this market had continued to deliver for RIM despite its significant decrease in market share in other territories.
He noted that consumers in North America was waiting on BlackBerry 10.
“Until that comes out, the North American market is really a challenge. “What the Caribbean and Latin America are allowing RIM to do is to be successful and still sell well while the North American and Western Europe market is waiting for that phone,” Killen said.
“I wouldn’t say we’re in a good position because it’s never nice to see your company struggle but working in the Caribbean as we go through this transition is kind of a treat because we’re not running into the same problems that you’re seeing in North America,” he said.
Today, RIM officials will also be on hand to field questions on individual features of the Blackberry such as the popular BlackBerry Messenger, the browser and the available applications. (NB)
